Swainiac

KK, one mistake when lighting your way is to concentrate too hard in the beam cone, albeit that thats the way your travelling. Our eyes work perfectly well in moonlight, and the general time for achieving 100% night vision is about 40 minutes. As other posters have stated, scanning with the naked eye will generally show up the white foam given off by foreign objects in the water, if you are not confident with your path home, simply slow down! Being hunter gatherers, our eyes pick out differences in our surroundings, so trust em! Rich

Meeeeeeeeeow! <gg> Rich

Matt, I believe that the Norway Cod Comp has just been fished, last week, with England represented by ouir national boat squad. It was sponsored by YYS, so I anticipate a write up in the mags probably in the september issues....eyes peeled, but I'll speak to a couple of the team, and see what they caught. Rich

At long last!! Long overdue I'd say.....be interesting to see what our Fisheries guys have to say. Rich

Took a drive down to my second home sunday AM..motorway shut northbound due to an accident, looked like a horse fatality. Arrived at Billy's at a reasonable 0720, loaded the [pick up, and straight down to the harbour. Loaded up "Hands Off", parked up percy in the TS car park, and jumped into the queue forming for the 8'o clock bridge. First stop was the Harbour, as the elusive giltheads had been reported, so a couple of spots as equally TS as the car park were tried, alas not even a nibble! Steamed across the second entrance, and roped up onto a small buff, and squeaked out a few ballans, still no gilts! Across the behind the hood, and met up with the Maroon Warrior from Burnham...sorry guys, dont know your names! They were down in small numbers after Bream. We steamed west, towards the Bill, and had a quick conflab with Colin Penny, re our intended mark. Not difficult to find.....park amongst the millions! We began our drifts with rag on a single paternoster, size two worm hook, and began whacking into the bream....superb sport. The two smaller lighthouses on the bill lined up signalled the end of our drift over the mussel beds, so back up again, the drifts produced fish all morning for both of us, Black bream to about 2lb 8 oz, pout to around a pound, Bass to about 2 lb 8 oz, mackeral, and a small pollack for me. A few kept for the BBQ, we steamed back inshore for a few drifts for larger Ballans, nothing huge, and then back outside the Knuckle on the harbour wall for some cuckoo, nothing here either, although pots were everywhere. Back onto the mooring for our intended 1400hrs, both happy lads with some fantastic sport on light gear! Thanks Billy, great trip, good company. Took me almost three hours to get home..M27 accident had traffic backed up to the roundabout on the A31 dorchester and bournemouth junction, so I managed to take a detour past Gordons to miss a huge stretch of it. Nightmare! No fish for the book Charlie...maybe next time!! Rich

Welcome aboard Becks....how is Posh these days?? ....... she does have a lovely Pout! Rich

Adam, I seem to recall that the ridges only fish on one tide, so if you were fishing the flood, perhaps try the ebb next time.........they are deffo there. Rich

You should ber able to launch the Kayak at Lepe. You can park the wagon on the shoreline, walk towards the white house right on the waters edge, and head towards the "new" Millenium Beacon there is a concrete slope behind a locked gate on the road corner there, where launching wil be out of the view of the grokkles, who will abound there now. OR, try driving around the corner to Gypsy Lane, drive down there and park, and launch from the beach there. One afloat, get around the point, just outside Beaulieu River, this is Seagull Island, classic Bass fishing, and you will be right on top of them in the shallow water. Stingers have historically been caught here, also, so be aware of the diesel truckers taking your Ragworm baits! A paddle back along the shore, towards where you were moored up, you will pass two bungalows, right on the beach. The square white one....Lordys bungalow, again, classic stinger ground, then farther back towards Sowley Boom, V good stinger ground, with loads of smoothy action also. Baits here have been Rag for Stingers, Hermits, peelers and hardbacks,(just crush em and whip em on!), you will be pestered by small bream on rag, so try catching one, and livebaiting it for stingers also! It has proved a good method before. PM me if you want me to show u round the lanes, Gypsy Lane is V hard to find! Tight lines..........may just bring me a kayak home from Florida! This sounds great fun! Rich

Hiya Mark......AKA Zzippy, welcome aboard. Enjoy the exchange. Remarkable pics m8, just shows us what is available from a one man kayak! Crack on! Rich

Mikey.........unfortunately, I too have a tendancy to nod off after 12 pints of guinness...............and I'm not diabetic! Rich

Fished for Hampshire police against Kent Police today, out of Hayling, had a fab day, smoothies to 18lb, full house of bream and doggies, and a token Thornback that went just under twelve. I finished joint top on boat with 150 points, and we beat Kent by 65 points, YaaaaaY Baits were peelers for the smoothies, Macky for the ray, and worms for bream, macky strips for the doggies. Roll on sunday. Rich

Duncan, surely the "Catch all" offence of endangering life at sea can be used even if you are not breathalysed? This carries a fixed sentance and is an arrestable offence. Rich

Guys, since posting, I have been asked tocrew ouit of weymouth, so am fishing down west. Paul, if you bring a chart that shows the whole of the island, I will show you a good place round the back, to target bass with live joeys, but my thoughts would be to concentrate inside, if weed allows. As you say, the closer in you fish, the less the weed is a problem. If you start fishing towards the Boom, the two bungalows, and wotrk up the Solent towards Lepe, the mouth of the Beaulieu River is a good holding spot for middle sized bass, to worm or lures, also, stingers have been taken there...will show u where tonight. Also Hampstead ledge is a definate maybe, ok? Tight lines guys. Rich

yeaaaahhhhhh maaaaaaan!

Smoothies or Bass round the back of the island...or why not both?? The weed should be dropping off a little by now, so why not make an evening sessionfor that club record stinger??? Crew needed?? Give me a PM. Rich

A very easy way to monitor marine crime in site specific areas is to speak directly to the marine unit, Dorset Constabulary. Just ask them how many crimes were committed in the most recnt four month period for specific moorings, ask them the type of crime, ie criminal damage, theft of, theft from, etc, but remember that these are only crimes that have reported........many of us, me included have been victims of crime, but know the system, and cant be arsed to report to the police. On balance, a chat to the tarriff collecting agency should show reported crimes, also ask them their strategy for crime reduction, if there isnt one in place, steer clear of that mooring facility. Hope this helps. Rich

Martin, do we sit on bean bags and pour empathy on our peers sat alongside us?? <gg> Rich

Terry, don't overlook the Shakespear ugly stick range, reputedly the worlds strongest blank, and at a very reasonable price, Ive three that have lasted well, from 6lb, up to 50lb. As Martin says, bang on lighter braid, you will benefit from the lesser diameter when the tide starts to run, and there is really no need to overhaul the fish with brutish gear. Try out a few rods in a decent shop that will price match, depending on where u are on the map. I would deffinately take a trip down to weymouth, and try out some of Andy's gear, try and negotiate the extra discount! Rich

Welcome aboard. Rich

Kam, I have found that Gerrys of Morecombe ' s swivels take some beating pricewise V quality. He floggs loads of sizes, and types, the only time I use the Crane swivel is on the tube type booms, I prefer the tiny rolling swivels for mini rigs, and additional anti twist in lure rigs. Rich

Blonde Ray: Dorsal spines none,Anal spines none, upper surface wholly prickly, except in juveniles, underside only prickly along front margins of disc,orbital thorns separate,a regular median rowof 40-45 thorns in juveniles and adult females, interupted on back in males,60-90 tooth rows, upper surface ochre,with numerous dark spots to margins of disc, underside white. Found on sand and sand/rock bottoms. Spotted Ray:Dorsal spines none,anal spines none,upper surface almost entirely smooth in young, prickly in large specimens, except for bare centres of pectorals and hind part of disc.underside of body nearly smooth, orbital thorns seperate,a regular row of 20-50 usually persistent thorns from nape to first dorsal fin.Upper surface brownish with numerous dark spots which do not reach the margins of the disc, frequently a concentration of dark spots forming a ring around a pale centre on hind part of each pectoral fin, underside white. Found in shelf waters to about 100 meters. What do we reckon now? <g> Rich

Had a great day out this saturday, fishing a lure only comp, as a warm up to the lure day in the YYS International being held later this year. Colin Penny was the skipper. Weather wise, we couldnt have wished for a better day, sea state perfect, we began by drifting a few wrecks for pollack, I managed a couple, a hatfull of poorcod, and a couple of pout. Mackeral were prolific, and became a nuisance, hitting lures intended for bottom species. Sandeels came in fairly consistently along the Shambles bank, to small shrimp lures, the bass however, didnt want to play. Back to another wreck near the bank, more pout and poorcod, the day finished close in, with us hoping for wrasse, triggers, or anything elses we could snatch! We did find a shoal of small pollack, and I managed my fill, as half three approached, the final result was going to be tight, with Billy Short, Dave Thompson and I all managing about the same amount, give or take. I sneaked the win, but only by four points, my total was 154 for the day, so I was well chuffed, and looked forward to sundays comp, with our club. Alas, we were unable to fish, as the wind was blowing like mad down in weymouth, so home I came, no points for me this time!! Rich

Tony, I went on the course a year ago with Adam F, it was held in Christchurch, and despite using radios all my working life in the forces and police service, I still learned a bit. Its also usefull to do the nerw variant of the course which includes use and explanantion of the DSC sets. If you do go, really pick his brains on using the set to set automatic features, as this is a very usefull tool on the DSC. Rich

Sam, its not about blenny snatching at all, its about the target species, and both mullet and wrasse have potential for well over 100% in our comps, as you yourself saw on our recent trip out onto the patch that evening, you can target cuckoo wrasse by simply adjusting the colour of attractor beads, and hook bait, and bag a 100% specimen quite readily. Yes, i agree that mini species are not really for our comps, but only because fish identification comes into play, not skill in catching, a species is a species in my book, as it is in all EFSA and NFSA comps....its horses for courses, and that course isnt for our club. I will raise the issue at the next meeting, and see what the floor says, as fish ident on mullet and wrasse is fairly easy, even for a beginner like me Crack on Gordy....catch those mullet maaaaaaaaaan! Rich

Kam, if fishing with a hooklegth of 30lb BS, I would go down to a third BS for the rotten bottom, so a link made up of 10lb BS mono. As long as you are not casting from the boat Jimbob Style, you will keep your lead, and it will break out if you do get snagged. If you find that you are getting snagged regularly, on all grounds, say if you leave the tackle down in slack tide and the boat swings, and the lead jams up, just try and reel in the slack line, untill you feel the weight at the point of snag, let off a little, and bounce the lead out, by jerking the rod up and down, or side to side. With practice, you wont give up your leads to Neptune! Hope this helps, Rich